* Posts by CrazyOldCatMan

6335 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Oct 2015

World's first robot hotel massacres half of its robot staff

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

But as soon as it is connected to the mother ship it becomes dumb as a rock, subservient to the whims of its maker

Why does "Dark Star" spring to mind?

(I saw that many, many years ago, well after reading the source story. The film is best appreciated after brain-melting amounts of scrumpy and while puffing on whacky-baccy fags. Allegedly)

Army had 'naive' approach to Capita's £1.3bn recruiting IT contract, MPs told

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Re: Utter fail

Skin in The Game makes the game a lot easier on all the players!

This most certainly didn't work in earier times - for most of the Armys life, the officer corps was drawn exclusively (almost) from the sons of nobility and the wealthy since comissions had to be purchased (and were quite expensive).

So it wasn't unheard of for chunks of the nobility to lose sons during wartime since SOP at the time was always 'shoot the opposing officers first' (which, in quite a few cases, probably improved the morale and capabilities of the army..).

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Re: Lieutenant General Tyrone Urch

Is it just me or does everyone put an 'L' in front of his surname and then imagine him in a butlers outfit?

Just me?

Ah well.

Googlers to flood social media with tales of harassment in bid to end forced arbitration

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

"requires employees to waive any rights to sue or appeal"

I'm somewhat confused that (unlike in civilised jurisdictions) contract law is allowed to trump national law.

In the UK (at least) contracts that try to enforce terms that are illegal (ie - attempt to take away legal rights) are deemed to be unenforcable and (potentially) illegal. I assume that isn't the case in the US

Brit hacker hired by Liberian telco to nobble rival now behind bars

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Re: He was hiring the attack net OUT

isn't even by one of the their tech reporters

And so is probably more accurate than their usual "hey - I can use an iPhone so I must be a techie!" reporters..

At least the non-techies know that they have to do some research.

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Re: Charged with creating a botnet?

several charges under Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990

Too many big words..

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Re: highly skilled hacker

Not skilled enough to keep out of prison though

Area of 'extertise' in one field (cracking/skiddying) does not imply expertise in another (OpSec)..

CES flicks the off switch on massager award… and causes a buzz

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Re: Nudist restaurants

awful lot of young ladies around who were trying for hypothermia

Round here, it's not just the young ladies..

It seems to be a peculiar affliction of the young.

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Osé

... even those that shouldn't.

Hang on.. I'm getting the colour orange with a hint of petulance..

Hubble 'scope camera breaks down amid US govt shutdown, forcing boffins to fix it for free

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Re: the Eagle Nebula dubbed the Pillars of Creation

run by space ferrets in league with the lizards too

Damn,

Another semi-evolved simian that's going to need aquiring and reprogramming..

Space Ferrets High Command.

The D in SystemD stands for Dammmit... Security holes found in much-adored Linux toolkit

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

"CVE-2018-16864, CVE-2018-16865, and CVE-2018-16866"

I'm surprised that the response from DedRat wasn't "user error, #wontfix"..

Zuck's 2019 tech talk tour should tackle the questions Facebook spent 2018 dodging

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: "I'm going to put myself out there more than I've been comfortable,"

Zuck to answer some live questions from the commentards

What? Interact with *real* people? Don't be silly - he has staff for that..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

silicone valley execs

Hmm.. I think they work in a *very* different industry..

Google Play Store spews malware onto 9 million 'Droids

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Re: Do phones still have an IR port?

Some do - my current (Honor 10) has an IR emitter to control TVs and set-top boxes..

Smartphones gateway drug to the Antichrist, says leader of Russian Orthodox Church

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Re: The so-called "beast" of Revelation was an STD ...

Err.. no. To go into the whole realm of biblical symbolism is beyond the scope but, in general, animals were used to represent either political or religious intitutions and, in that regard, Revelations is no different.

(For an OT example, see various parts of the book of Daniel).

Also, there are many, many interpretation of Revelations (continuous-historic, partial historic et. al) which assign different institutions to the various beasts and other things (like the False Prophet) - the most common interpretation (in Protestant circles anyway) is that the Beast ironically refers to the Catholic Church..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Steady now

The confessional, in it's raw form, is simply "a problem shared, is a problem halved"

Umm.. no. It was a direct result of the heresy that promulgated that a priest had the ability to forgive sins (especially when combined with the 'salvation through works' idea).

customs in the church started off with good intentions

Or were accreted in via the various pagan ideas absorbed by the church.

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Dial 5 for sadomasochism...

smartphones are prone to butt dialling

You are holding^W storing them wrong..

(What is this fascination for putting them in back pockets? They are easier to steal and more prone to being sat on and broken..And putting them in a case [or even locking them] is a pretty simple way to prevent butt-dialling..)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Dial 5 for sadomasochism...

Not a Furry, a Feathery

Now I'm worried that I had exactly the same thought..

I'm doomed I tell you, doomed!

Microsoft vows to destroy Office, er, offices: Campus to be demolished and rebuilt

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Re: I guess it must just be me...

but how come my experience is so different?

Same reason that some people win the lottery - pure, dumb luck..[1]

(It's a variant on the '10 million monkey Shakespeare' trope.. sooner or later, 10 million Windows 10 machines will eventually produce one that actually works..)

[1] Or you have a machine with no exotic hardware and don't use it to do anything that causes a crash..

What's 23 times the size of Earth, uncomfortably warm – and has astroboffins excited?

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: A bit of a fried egg planet - with a melted front and a solid back.

Although libration might cause the edges

Mine's a pint of cider please..

Oh - 'Libration' - I could have sworn you said libation..

Attention all British .eu owners: Buy dotcom domains and prepare to sue, says UK govt

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Re: Don't worry, it's only money

he has been appointed to negotiate the terms of the UK's withdrawal

... along the lines approved by the other 27 EU countries. It's pointless agreeing an agreement if he can't get it approved by all the EU counties because just one saying 'non/nein/nyet' will scupper the whole thing..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Wow, it's almost...

Democracy is about representative government

Err.. no. *Representative" Democray is that - democracy per-se is about 'rule by the people' ('demos' being the Greek work for people..).

In Ancient Greek that was done by having large meeting of all the free citizens (ie - adult non-slave males who were citizens of that city - no women, foreigners or slave allowed) where a direct vote would be taken.

Since that's pretty much impossible for anything bigger than an Ancient Greek city, representative democracy was born where those eligible to vote elect others to represent them on the premise that those elected would accurately reflect the wishes and opinions of those electing them.

Then political parties were invented and it became more important to reflect that the party wanted than the direct wishes of those who elected you. So we get to the current absurd situation where MP's from areas that voted Remain are still required to reflect the wishes of their party/faction leader rather than the wishes of the electorate in their constituency. I'd have a *lot* more respect for MPs if they grew a backbone and tried that, rather than blindly followed the party whips in the hope that they'll move up the ranks.

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Wow, it's almost...

Unelected autocrats such as Theresa May

You do realise that she is an elected MP? And that 'autocrat' is an utter mis-statement? If she were an autocrat, her vision of Brexit would already have been signed, sealed and delivered and she wouldn't be walking the greased tightrope over the shark-tank filled with rabid MP's..

What happens when a Royal Navy warship sees a NATO task force headed straight for it? A crash course in Morse

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Suggested musical accompaniment to seeing the Northern Lights

I'd prefer the song "Northern Lights" by Renaissance..

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"virtually none of the Navy's work would be possible"

Well - it would. but would require a much, much larger crew. Which would mean many, many more stores. Which would mean a much, much bigger ship (or more frequent stores intake).

The automation allows faster information flow and lower personnel leves.

My 2019 resolution? Not to buy any of THIS rubbish

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I watched the programming on BBC Alba

Chan eil Gaidhlig agat?

(Mind you, I don't have much anymore either. I can pick out the odd word..)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Hospitality sector had it coming

Oh there will always be a market for efficient, knowledgeable people providing specialist services

Much like opticians. I would rather not go to somewhere like Specsavers where they seem to specialise in grabbing just-qualified opticians and then burning them out..

I'll stick with my traditional opticians thankyouverymuch. The place where I know all the staff, they know me and, if I've managed to pull off one of the nose pads on my glasses (again!) will replace it without bothering to charge me..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Might I add...

I do believe ubuntu solved it...

Right up until they were infested with systemd..

Yes, linux with systemd is still better than Windows, but only just.

Pork pulled: Plug jerked out of beacon of bacon delight

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Re: Here we go...

But the question is, does it fly?

Anything will fly, given sufficient incentive..

(a JATO unit springs to mind)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Mixed feelings

I find the term Department of Meat Sciences ... disturbing

Students enter, but never leave.

And by pure coincidence, very generous pork-based pies are available.

Silent night, social fight: Is Instagram the new Facebook for pro-Trump Russian propagandists?

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: The wrong culprit

but Trump won the elections

Err.. I think you'll find he didn't. He lost the popular vote but the (unelected) U.S. Electoral College chose him anyway..

(There was recently both an Only Connect *and* University Challenge question using the few US Presidents that got elected by the College despite losing the popular vote)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Not exactly what it seems

Stalin days nostalgia

Sure, you might get sent to the Gulags or shot for wearing blue jeans, but at least the trains ran on time(*)..

(*) Except when they didn't - because the driver annoyed someone in the Politbureau and is currently breaking rocks in Siberia..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

let's have some government regulate all of our communications

In other news, straw men are made of straw and a big fires gonna burn..

Boffins don't give a sh!t, slap Trump's face on a turd in science journal

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Re: Curious precedent on what is allowed

Socialism and Communism have proven themselves to be brutal, dystopian, totalitarian systems of government

As have many right-wing governments - many of them supported by the US..

Hint: It's not the political system that's at fault - it's the people ruling. Power corrupts and all that..

Brexit-dodging SCISYS Brits find Galileo joy in Dublin

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Merry Brexmas ...

But now in Rees-Mogg land we get to replace EU rules with US rules

Especially the plutocracy. Rees-Mogg wants to be part of the new nobility..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Sadly with May running the clock down...

There was no way to do this without either breaking the Good Friday agreement or else damaging the Union that the Conservative and Unionist Party stands for

And this is the fundamental issue for the Tory Party - in order to kowtow to the fanatical Brexiteers (most of whom appear to be stuck in the 17th - or at best the 18th - centuries) they now have to cause a rupture of the Union - one of the fundamental things their party stands for.

And let's face it, post-Brexit, the liklihood of Scotland voting for independance goes up markedly. Especially as one of the critical reasons for the sececcionists losting the vote last time was that they wouldn't be part of the EU if they left the UK..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Meanwhile Mayhem in still playing chicken with the British economy

I have a tiny smidgeon of sympathy for May - she's pretty much in an impossible situation wherre anything she does is pretty much going to be blocked by one segment of Parliament or other..

Then I remember that she got herself into this situation by calling a snap election that she didn't need to and eroding her majority to the extent that she needed to be propped up by buying support from a bunch of throwbacks from Norn Iron.

Bed <--> Lie.

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Why Dublin?

English stops being an official Eu language

It won't - because English is an official language in several EU countries..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Why Dublin?

The Guiness is better in Dublin

Not in my experience - it makes me vomit there too.. (as do most bitters and some stouts)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Why Dublin?

Tá mo shreabhadh móra lán de eascanna

Chan eil fios agam..

(Sadly, I don't know any Manx Gaelg - only Gaidhlig)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Re-Moaners ... You lost

no surprise there, my cats could

If they could be bothered. That's what they have minoins^W humans for..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: != Brexit dodging

But the biggest market for Cornish fishermen is the European Union

And the ones I've seen quoted are hoping that fishing quotas will be removed post-Brexit.

Newsflash - The won't. Otherwise, in ten years time, we won't have any fish left. The UK is going to have to co-operate with the EU on fishing - otherwise we'll be back in the pre-quota world where fishing catches were getting smaller and smaller because all the pre-breeding stock is being caught and eaten.

In short - the sea doesn't care about borders - and neither do fish.

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Re: != Brexit dodging

House of Windsor - German and Greek!

And now (horror of horrors!) part American..

(Said firmly tongue-in-cheek - I think an expansion of the Royals outside their traditional Home Counties bloodline is a Good Thing)

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: != Brexit dodging

infighting withing the Tory party has inflicted on the nation

And Labour isn't much better - since quite a few of their MP's are from areas that voted Leave, they don't have the bottle to stand up and be counted.

Corbyn would generate a lot of votes in currently-Tory area that voted Remain by calling for either an end to Brexit or a Peoples Vote.

One year on after US repealed net neutrality, policymakers reflect soberly on the future

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: Economists favouring repeal of net neutrality

good for the economy, not necessarily good for consumers

*Good* economists (not as in the alignment - as in 'ones who can see longer-term') understand that without the consumers benefiting, the economy will eventually go down the drain..

CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

Re: This is the future

This is the future of the current party in control

And, sadly, the same thing is happening all over the world, in all political spectra. The demagogues are taking over where truth isn't important - all that is important is the masses believing what comes out of your mouth (and voting for you)

Oxford startup magics up metamaterials for next-gen charging

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"that turned a surface into a speaker"

After all, the Vogons managed to do it - how hard can it be?

Hole-y ship: ISS 'nauts take a wander to crack Soyuz driller whodunnit

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Re: When was the hole made?

get out the rubber truncheons.

Followed by a no-expenses-paid trip to the colder parts of Siberia on work experience.

Thanks to UK peers, coming to a laptop near you in 2019: Age checks for online smut

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Re: Doh....

Why do we bother with a Parliament of morons?

Ohh - I know this one!

Because we elect people who haven't ever had a real job[1] in their lives? Who have spent all their 'working' life in a political/social bubble and never, ever have had to do something real?

[1] IE - not politics/banking/legal.

Super Micro says audit found no trace of Chinese spy chips on its boards

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All in all Bloomberg's failure to retract this story leaves a sizeable stain on their integrity.

What little they had left anyway..